For me, Brian Binnerup’s My Movies plugin is the most important function of Vista Media Center. It’s so useful that I want it to be the default start page every time I turn-on my Vista Media Center PC.

I couldn’t figure out how to do that, and this I came across this post on TheGreenButton forums. Here are the details on launching a Media Center plug-in from via the startup folder or from a key on your remote control.

Associate Media Center Plug ins with the Media Center Application:

• Open My Computer or Explorer and navigate to: C:Program FilesMCEMy Movies
• Right click on the file MyMovies.mcl
• From the menu choose Open With and choose Media Center.
  • Make sure the checkbox for “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” is checked.

Option 1: Set the Plugin to Automatically Launch when the computer boots:

• Right click on the file C:Program FilesMCEMy MoviesMyMovies.mcl and create a shortcut
• Copy that shortcut to the Startup folder in the Windows Start menu

Option 2: Have the asterisk key on the remote launch the plug-in:

• Down load a program called HotkeyP (free / open source)
• In the program add a new Hotkey:
  • Check the box for the Shift button
  • In the input box type: 8
  • In the Command input type or navigate to: C:Program FilesMCEMy MoviesMyMovies.mcl
  • Click OK to save

HotkeyP will need to be running in the System tray, and Now when you press the Asterisks key it will open My Movies.

If you are using the Harmony 880 remote, you can add a button to the LCD display window and name it My Movies. This is necessary because these remotes do not have an Asterisk Key.

Option 3: Have the Media Center Button or some other dedicated button lauch the plugin
The key combination of Windows logo key+ALT+ENTER launches Windows Media Center. Assign this hotkey to launch the Media Center plugin file instead. For a list of all available keyboard shortcuts in Media Center, see the Microsoft article.